Man do I need a laugh. Just a quick one, though, as there’s lots to get done around casa Ayres. What I need is a good, punchy, funny crime/mystery movie which, I dunno maybe I’m just out of touch, but don’t seem to be as bountiful as they did say twenty-five years ago… Good ones, that is. Of course, I was just a kid in the eighties and grew up watching stuff like Fletch and Foul Play, Running Scared and Midnight Run, so they seemed fresh to my impressionable young mind. It’s been quite a while since I’ve watched any of the ones I first loved and I’d hate to vouch for how they’ve aged, or how my tastes have certainly changed. So, who knows, maybe The Bounty Hunter was just as good as the films I loved back then… then again, perhaps it was not.
So, you know where I'm coming from and where my tastes lie, I've compiled these helpful lists and you should note that the order they come in bares no significance.
Top 5 Comic Crime films of the 80s
1- Fletch - Okay, not for the die-hard fans of Gregory McDonald's books, but this is classic Chevy Chase... sounds weird to say, doesn't it?
2- Midnight Run - Awesome introduction to the possibilities of vulgarity. Plus - funny and what do you know? Exciting too. The odd couple on the run has never been done better. Ever.
3- Running Scared - Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal make perhaps the single least believable cop partners ever on screen, but y'know I'm stopping here for the long haul if I come across it flipping channels.
5- Raising Arizona - Kidnapping an infant has never been funnier. Career highlights for Nic Cage, Holly Hunter, John Goodman, Randall "Tex" Cobb and on and on and on.
Of the 90s
1- Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels - What'd he just say? I dunno, but I'm laughing pretty hard. Oooh, could everybody stop getting shot? Yeah, funny stuff. Turn off your subtitles and just watch it again.
2- Out of Sight - Funny, sexy, cool. Steven Soderbergh + Scott Frank + George Clooney x Elmore Leonard = still my favorite Dutch adaptation.
3- Get Shorty - Before John Travolta squandered all the good will Pulp Fiction had bought him. And Gene Hackman - funny? Yup. Friends don't let friends see the sequel.
4- Bullets over Broadway - This one count? It's my list and I say it does. Love it.
5- Very Bad Things - Oh no they didn't. Oh yes. They did.
Of the 00s
Why am I having such a hard time coming up with enough to make a decent list? Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang? Bad Santa? Ocean's Eleven? And I'm out.
Honorable mentions - Bottle Rocket, Go, Mad Dog and Glory, Suicide Kings, Gross Pointe Blank, Beverly Hills Cop... Notice that I didn't mention Jackie Brown or Pulp Fiction because they go less for yuks than most of the films on the lists, but I also didn't include The Naked Gun or Clue because they don't accomplish (or try to) any real suspense in the midst of the laughs.
The thing is though? I've seen all of these a million times and I neeeed something good now. Help me out, please. I know I'm overlooking some gems and you have no idea how much it would mean to me. Let me know your favorite comic crime films.
Jedidiah Ayres writes fiction and keeps the blog Hardboiled Wonderland.
